"Executed by firing squad?"
The interviewees at the National Security Bureau all looked on with stunned expressions, and You Jilong's face turned cold as he barked, "Who said that? Stand out!"
Ren Suo turned his head and caught a glimpse of a figure that made his heart skip a beat, but there were too many people, and he couldn't see clearly.
You Jilong scrutinized the over two hundred interviewees in the hall, his face darkening as he continued, "All interviewees must now proceed to a training base for five days of foundational training. During this period, all internal and external communications will be cut off. Those who are unwilling may forfeit their interview opportunity and leave now."
"Five days?"
"And cut off from communication?"
This sudden announcement shocked all the interviewees, and someone asked, "We weren't told about this before!"
At this point, Ren Suo suddenly realized—no wonder they were asked to bring a change of clothes.
You Jilong spoke indifferently, "Yes, because these were instructions issued from above just three hours ago. We're skipping the tedious interview screening and moving directly to foundational training for assessment. We're not forcing anyone, those who want to leave can do so and will be returned to their original posts."
Li Qingxuan raised her hand to ask, "We are going to live there for five days, and we didn't bring any luggage, like toothpaste, toothbrushes, towels, and the like—we only brought clothes…"
"The base has uniforms of all sizes, and we provide all living necessities. You can even purchase underwear immediately," You Jilong said blandly. "Everything is sold at half the price of similar market products as they are internally supplied and unavailable outside. We support UnionPay and Alipay, so don't worry about that."
Another person asked, "What exactly is the position we're interviewing for?"
You Jilong replied, "You'll be informed at the training base. All I can say is that it's a profession within National Security Bureau Eighteen. Now, those who are unwilling to go may leave, and those who are, stand out when your name is called and line up."
The crowd exchanged looks, and many left the National Security Bureau one after another. They were newcomers from other units, which possibly had better benefits than the National Security Bureau, and had come to the interview somewhat cluelessly. Hearing these terms, they naturally hesitated no more and gave up this so-called interview opportunity.
They weren't without good jobs, so why bear this hardship.
Within a few minutes, several dozen people had left the hall. Ren Suo, naturally, did not leave—he was becoming more and more interested in National Security Bureau Eighteen. Besides, the benefits at the National Security Bureau were indeed better than those at a street office!
Li Qingxuan didn't leave, neither did Xie Qiansi, Qiao Muyi, and others. Perhaps they had their own little schemes in mind. The remaining people, whether they were there just for the excitement or because of the 'rumor' mentioned by Xie Qiansi, stayed behind.
Looking at the around one hundred people remaining, You Jilong's expression remained unchanged as he took out a list and started calling names: "Wang Fugui, Linghu Yao, Lai Haiwen… step out!"
Eight men stood up one after another, took out their IDs for the black body armor-clad officers to check, and after the check, they were led to the buses outside.
The one checking Ren Suo was Li Dan, who still looked drowsy with dark circles under his eyes, yet he recognized Ren Suo, "It's you."
Ren Suo smiled and said, "So, can you answer the question I asked last time now?"
"Hmm?" Li Dan was momentarily startled. "Oh, you mean how that person knocked out the others… Wait a few more hours, and you'll know. Get on the bus and remember, you are in Team Eight."
There was only one bus left outside, the buses full of people had already departed. When Ren Suo boarded the bus, he saw Qiao Muyi already sitting inside. His eyes lit up, and he had no qualms about—
"Girls should sit with girls, it's better that way." Li Qingxuan pulled on Ren Suo and sat down beside Qiao Muyi with a smile.
Ren Suo sat behind Qiao Muyi, pondering how to 'touch' her for over two hours in order to get her key. At that moment, Xie Qiansi surprisingly also took a seat next to him, which naturally elicited a look of disdain from Ren Suo, "You know, it's not quite proper for guys to sit together, is it?"
Xie Qiansi couldn't be bothered with him and kept chatting with the people in front, Li Qingxuan and Qiao Muyi. She took out her phone to add Qiao Muyi on WeChat, using the same reason she had just mentioned, "If we all discuss together, we can exchange ideas and help each other out..."
Though there were not a few girls among those who came for the interviews, Li Qingxuan and Qiao Muyi could still be considered to have above-average talent, which explained why Xie Qiansi was so eager.
At this moment, the bus was full, and a person in a black body armor came up and loudly said, "Notify your families now if you need to because once we enter the base, all mobile phones will be collected."
"We can't even use our phones?" The reaction from inside the bus was significant; everyone knew that the Mysterious Country had fully entered the age of smart devices, and for these young people, not using their phones was as rare as online gamers not collecting daily rewards.
They had thought that being cut off from the outside world meant merely not playing with their phones regularly, but they hadn't expected that they wouldn't even be allowed to possess them. Those who had hastily subscribed to short-term data plans to download movies and novels also stopped their actions, now realizing they couldn't even be offline players.
Xie Qiansi's face looked as bitter as a gourd. She had set up a WeChat group and was planning to use WeChat for communication, but now with the phones gone, the group would naturally fall apart...
Ren Suo, living alone, didn't need to worry about much and just posted on his Moments to inform his family that he would be attending civil servant training for the next few days.
Five hours later, Ren Suo and the others completely left the Lianjiang City area and entered the vicinity of the Qingping Mountain Range. Sitting in a bus for hours on end could easily make people tired and sleepy. Most passengers had already adjusted their seat backs and fallen asleep, and at this moment, Ren Suo saw that nearly everyone beside him had dozed off, so he stealthily stretched his nefarious hand towards Qiao Muyi...
"Key detected."
"The key is in a state of sleep, beginning retrieval."
"Key formation detected, retrieval will take 303 seconds, and continuous contact must be maintained during this time. 302, 301, 300..."
What, so it would take only about five minutes for Ren Suo to accomplish his goal while Qiao Muyi was asleep?
However, at that moment Qiao Muyi's body shifted slightly, and she mumbled something, turning her head just to see a hand resting on her shoulder.
Seeing that the hand belonged to Ren Suo who was sound asleep against her chair, with one of his hands touching her shoulder not too lightly or heavily, Qiao Muyi extended a finger and flicked Ren Suo's hand away.
"Search interrupted."
Ren Suo grunted as if he was sleeping uncomfortably and lay back down, pondering whether it was a coincidence that she woke up or was it because he was touching the key that she awoke.
Nonetheless, knowing that the retrieval time for the 'key' in a sleeping state would be significantly shorter was a massive surprise for Ren Suo—he still had a Treasure Box at home to open. Now that he had discovered Qiao Muyi, he definitely wouldn't miss the chance; during the next few days of training, he would have opportunities.
The sky outside gradually darkened, and Ren Suo's stomach also told him it was about time for dinner when the bus finally passed through a military checkpoint and drove into a hidden base amidst the mountains.
Having sat on the bus for hours, Ren Suo finally got off, stretched lazily, and felt all his bones crackling.
"There are quite a few buses here."
Ren Suo noticed the multitude of buses parked inside the base, at least a dozen, and commented thoughtfully.
"It's not just us from Lianjiang City," Xie Qiansi was also somewhat surprised. "Those vehicle registration plates are from nearby Yuanshan City and Pingjiang City... These buses are temporarily hired by the National Security Bureau."
Ren Suo said, "Does that mean civil servants from across the province who meet the National Security Bureau's requirements have all been gathered here?"
Suddenly, they overheard someone nearby say, "With so many people here and the place being so remote, they could just execute us all and save the trouble of disposing of the bodies."